Association of increased QTc interval with the cardiometabolic syndrome

Recent studies indicate a high prevalence of increased QTc interval length in patients affected by the metabolic syndrome, but there is no data available to demonstrate the correlation of the QTc interval with severity of the cardiometabolic syndrome (CMS). The objective of this study was to estimate the association between increasing number of cardiometabolic abnormalities and increasing QTc interval length. Electrocardiograms were collected from 1420 participants in a cross-sectional study. The QTc interval lengths were corrected for heart rate using Bazett's formula. CMS was determined according to the National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III (NCEP-ATP III) guidelines. Multiple linear regression models were used examining associations between increasing number of individual components of syndrome with QTc interval length. Participants with CMS had significantly longer QTc interval length, controlling for age, body mass index (BMI), sex, and ethnic group. Increasing number of CMS components was significantly associated with increased QTc interval length, even after adjusting for age, BMI, total cholesterol, fasting C peptide, and history of heart disease. These findings suggest that QTc interval length is increased in the presence of CMS and is linearly related to an increase in number of metabolic abnormalities.